Bengaluru, March 29 Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Daniel Vettori did not shy away from calling out his side’s bowling shortcomings after a heavy six-wicket loss to defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 opener at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
Despite posting a competitive 201/9, powered by a blistering 80 from Ishan Kishan and a late surge from Aniket Verma, SRH were outplayed by a dominant RCB batting unit led by Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal.
Vettori admitted his side failed to match RCB’s execution with the ball. "I think we understand where the game's gone and how destructive that RCB batting line-up is. You have to get a good start, which we did against Salt, but then I just think we weren't at our best with the ball, we weren't as disciplined as we needed to be, and we gave a lot of scoring opportunities to Virat and Padikkal, who played exceptionally well,” he said during the post-match presentation.
RCB’s chase was defined by relentless aggression, particularly from Padikkal, whose rapid 61 off 26 balls tilted the contest decisively during the powerplay. Vettori highlighted how SRH failed to capitalise after an early breakthrough.
"I thought the way his (Padikkal's) intent, when he came out, put us right back under pressure, where we should have been able to maintain a little bit more after getting that important wicket of Salt. So it was a very good batting performance by RCB and one of our poorer bowling performances,” he said.
With regular captain Pat Cummins absent, SRH’s bowling unit struggled for control on a surface that demanded precision. Vettori pointed to a failure in execution rather than planning.
"I think we learned a lot from how RCB bowled and what was effective and what wasn't, and obviously we discussed that, but we just weren't able to implement that. You don't want to have a rusty performance because of how important every game is in the IPL, particularly how to start.
"But today was one of our challenging bowling displays. We saw at the back end when we started to go back to our usual disciplines that we could actually be effective and take some wickets, but I think we just missed our lengths too much. Duffy, in particular, showed the length to bowl on that surface,” the New Zealand veteran noted.
SRH handed a late debut to David Payne, who replaced Brydon Carse just days before the opener. Though he conceded heavily early, Payne bounced back to pick up two key wickets. Vettori acknowledged the difficult circumstances but remained encouraged.
"We put him in a tough situation tonight to come in, but we just thought with the balance of the team, we needed that bowling.
"I think with Pat coming back later in the tournament, Carse hopefully back soon, and Payne, that gives us some good options,” Vettori added.
Amid the defeat, Vettori singled out young spinner Harsh Dubey for his composure, especially after dismissing Padikkal at a crucial juncture.
"For this last year or so, he's been incredible in red- and white-ball cricket," Vettori said. "We were fortunate that we picked him up [at] the back end of last year because he probably could have been one of the big buys of the auction this season, but he is a clever bowler, and bowling spin here is not easy.
"It's a small ground, and the surface is pretty challenging, and even for the likes of Krunal (Pandya), who is such an experienced campaigner. So to see him come in today, understand what he needs to do, take an important wicket, there will be a couple of things that he wants to improve on, but I think he's going to be a real asset for us this season,” the Kiwi stated.
Vettori also drew encouragement from SRH’s batting depth, particularly the late assault from Aniket, which pushed the total past 200 after early setbacks.
"We've got a lot of trust in our batting unit. You see Aniket coming in at seven and being still able to be aggressive and put us in a position where we had a chance of a defendable total.
"We don't expect Abhi and Trav to do it every game - we expect them to win a couple of games a season, and we hand that off to all of the batting unit. So that top seven is incredibly impressive, and even after that tough start to get to 200 shows the calibre of that group,” he said.
"So I think they've just got the confidence that they can go out there and play that style, and they understand that we need big scores because of the nature of the IPL these days, that big scores are dominant and they're really important.,” Vettori concluded.
SRH will next face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the iconic Eden Gardens on Thursday, April 2.
--IANS
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